Harriet Harman's response to coverage of her association with the National
Council for Civil Liberties - and its link with the Paedophile Information
Exchange - is a blunder

When the Jimmy Savile scandal broke in 2012, Harriet Harman passionately demanded a judge-led inquiry. Her response to recent coverage of her association with the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) was rather different. In the Seventies, Ms Harman worked as legal officer for the NCCL at the same time as the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) was affiliated to the organisation. Ms Harman insists that PIE had been marginalised and only remained an affiliate because the NCCL lacked the constitutional authority to expel it. She has every right to defend her actions, to reject the innuendo that she was a mouthpiece for PIE.

That said, she has handled the controversy tactlessly, which raises questions about both her own judgment and that of the Labour spin machine. Her attempt to play the injured party came across as insensitive given the vile nature of PIE. In an interview with the BBC she repeatedly refused to say that the NCCL’s association with the group was a “mistake”, falling back into legal jargon. She later expressed “regrets” through an official statement.

Yet not only was it a mistake for the NCCL to tolerate PIE’s affiliation, it was entirely beyond reason. This was an evil organisation that attempted to legitimise the sexual abuse of children. They also tried to exploit the Left’s embrace of libertarianism in the Seventies, which gained them the popular label of the Loony Left. The attention that Ms Harman is currently receiving is a reminder that large numbers of the so-called Loony Left went on to hold senior positions in New Labour.

In the aftermath of the Savile scandal, there is widespread public awareness of the evils of the past and a refusal to see them brushed under the carpet. Ms Harman’s arrogance is an embarrassing blunder for her and her party.